Rest In Peace, Eric Boehlert

I was "introduced" to him around 16 years ago. By introduced, I mean he became a regular voice on the Stephanie Miller radio show. It had just come across the Twin City airwaves, and I do limit it to that area since it was an AM radio show. I was spoiled by having MPR to listen to, all FM, and many stations spread throughout the state. One of my favorite radio hosts there was Catherine Lanfer, but she was leaving to join Al Franken on the new Air America Radio. I followed her, and Stephanie's show was adjacent, which is how it all started for me.

Stephanie's show continued after Al Franken left to pursue a Senate career, and I stayed to listen to her whenever I wasn't either in the heart of either downtown or out in the country, neither of which got reception. In those days it was described as a little fart joke show with politics. Jim Ward was the "voice monkey" who could imitate almost anybody or anything, possessed a truly wicked sense of humor, and often had me needing to take special care of my driving while laughing uncontrollably. He'd do a Darth Vader voice as Dick Cheney, particularly after reports came out of a peculiar sulphurous smell in the West Wing, which got "attributed" to a portal to hell opening up in Cheney's office. His most memorable one for me was as the voice of a sheep defending the (actual news story) required marriage to a shepherd for a certain kind of misbehavior on the shepherd's part. According to Ward, the sheep liked it, but it was done in a way that kept me in giggles, even in repeats. There were also phony PSAs about all kinds of things, like the ridiculous alleged effects of too much tequila, including a long list of disclaimers like the ones done at the tail end of certain drug ads, very fast so you don't really catch the side effects. Two I did catch were scabies and rabies, memorable not just for their improbability but for the rhyme. Jim left the show due to medical issues after several years, an unfortunate loss.

It wasn't all silliness. She'd interview politicians, pundits, medical experts. Eric Boehlert came on as a media critic, from his website Media Matters, later also from PressRun.media. He spent our time describing what the beltway press, the most flagrant violator, was saying about whatever was going on, pointing out how they got it wrong and what was actually right, criticizing them for slanting or even omitting important parts of the truth. The last few years he particularly stressed "both-siderism", the bogus narrative that both sides did whatever the Republicans (FOX "News", etc.,) were reporting as immoral, untruthful, corrupt, which in fact was usually projection because certain Republicans were the ones actually doing it, while their own bad behavior was simply ignored. He pointed out the false birtherism claims against Obama, Trump's endless lies, his appointees' grift, the "nothing there there" of  "Benghazi!" and Hillary's emails,  the claims of Biden's alleged senility, even Trump's recent claim that it was he himself who killed Bin Laden. The list was endless. 

I listened to him every Monday, top of the second hour of the show, unless I was, while still working, out of radio range. My retirement followed quickly after Free Speech TV turned that little fart joke radio show into a 3 hour televised (plus radio) show. FYI both Dish and Direct carry it, and since both of those come with DVRs, the show was always recorded and watched, except for commercials of course, regularly and in full. I got to see what everybody looked like, what went on behind the scenes because there was no more "behind" - unless you count the bust of Stephanie's rear end which is proudly displayed on the set. (Yes, it has panty lines.)

The news came out after yesterday's show closed. I first herd about it from a headline on Daily Kos, which merely mentioned he was in a bike accident. It was only in the text one learned he was killed. Only much later the news mentioned he was hit by a train. One of the comments gave a link to things he contributed several years ago to Daily Kos, still there in archives. 

I did of course turn into Stephanie's show this morning, and it very understandably started with tears. I haven't had the time yet to finish, with several necessary errands demanding my attention, but the show so far has been a wake. A tribute. A few clips from previous broadcasts were played, reminiscences aired.

While Media Matters and PressRun.media are still there, so far they have no postings on his death. I have no idea if somebody else will pick up the reins, as it were, or if they will just sit there as an archive which stopped growing when his bicycle was hit by a train. There is much commentary that he has no equal in what he did, that he is irreplaceable. But there is a void that needs to be filled. I hope his legacy is that more journalists can see that need and start filling it, each individually, rather than just following the herd in blindly, non-critically, printing what everybody else is, however untrue or misrepresentative it is. There are not two truths. There is only one set of facts, not to be mistaken for opinions which range wildly all over the place on anything and everything. Media matters. Truth matters. Eric Boehlert mattered, one of the very few in journalism who really did.

Rest in peace, Eric Boehlert. You will be sorely missed.